Kanchipuram

From Mahabalipuram we set out by car to Chennai. Along the way we stopped in the very old city of Kanchipuram.

Historically Kanchipuram has been the capital city for some ruling dynasties of India, namely the Pallav's in the 6th century, later followed by the Chola dynasty. The same Pallav's used Mahabalipuram as a port city for their commercial trading purposes and had commissioned much of the stone carvings Mahabalipuram is famous for.

Kanchipuram was also known as a major learning centre for Jains, Bhuddists and Hindus, and is considered a significant religious/spiritual city. It houses many significant temples also built by the Pallav and Chola dynasties dating back to the 6th century onwards.

Kanchipuram is regarded as one of the seven holiest cities of India, where one can obtain salvation. There are many temples scattered around this city of which we had an opportunity to visit a couple; the Kamakshi temple and the Shankaracharya temple.

Kamakshi temple is devoted to goddess Parvati and was likely built around the 6th century. It is one of the few temples dedicated to a goddess in India, very much like the Meenakshi Amman temple we visited in Madurai (that was also goddess Parvati).

The Kanchipuram area is well known for its silk production, very similar to Mysore. However, in Mysore while silk is produced by power looms, in Kanchipuram the very fine and famous silk products are produced using hand looms. Most of Kanchipuram's local population is employed in the weaving industry.

We had a very short time in Kanchipuram, however we did manage to hit a few retail shops in search of a famous silk Kanchi saree. There were too many choices and under pressure with a short time I wasn't able to select anything. Most sarees were quite expensive and weren't of a style commonly worn in the north. I didn't want to risk having buyers remorse by grabbing something I wasn't sure of just for the sake of having a kanchi saree :) .

After our short afternoon in Kanchipuram we headed to the mega city of Chennai.

Chennai, like any other major city of India, was a densely populated place with very heavy traffic in all directions. Similar to Banglaore, Chennai is known as an IT hub of India. Its also a popular destination for post secondary education as many institutions are located in Chennai too.

We had dinner at the famous Sarvanna Bhavan, a south Indian restaurant chain, and were unfortunately disappointed. This location probably served us the worse meal of our trip.

The next morning we headed out for a city tour. We took a stroll along Marina beach, visited another old temple dedicated to the god Muruganu (local incarnation of Lord Vishnu) and managed a little shopping in Chennai as well.

Among the city sights was Fort St. George. This was a fort built by the British back in the 17th century when they first arrived in India and were looking for a location to set up a warehouse and a shipping port for the East India Company ( a merchant trade company owned by the British). Fort St George became that location where the British first settled and planted the roots of what is now the city of Chennai. The British settled here and started their business operations, which drew in the local residents as the working class. From this point on the city started to develop over the centuries and now is a thriving metropolitan of India. The name the British gave Chennai was Madras, and eventually after Indian independence it was changed to its current Indian name (Chennai). Around this area there were other visible buildings which were clearly left behind from the British era. Most of these buildings are now used for various government administration offices.

Later that evening our family caught a flight back to Delhi and Maneesh and I caught a train to our next destination, Cooimbature.

Chennai

We had booked our return flight from Khozikhode, which was the main reason we landed in this city. We arrived early in the morning as per the travel options, however our flight wasn't until the evening.

On route from Allapuzha to Khozikhode we bypassed the famous city of Kochi. At this point in our journey, with weak healths, we had decided to pass on stopping for a visit in Kochi. We were feeling a little tired of city tours as well at this point, and decided to leave Kochi as a future destination. Although the history of the city seemed interesting, we were now on a bit of a time crunch.

We spent one day in Khozikhode and rested most of the day. In the evening we did venture out to the market a little in search of fresh spices. The south is known for producing very tasty freshly ground spices different from what we are accustomed to in the north.

We set out on foot on this little adventure and by asking street vendors and local residents directions for this market, we eventually landed up in a wholesale market. There were tons and tons of shops however none were selling the fresh spices we were after. In particular we were after something called Sambar Masala, a seasoning commonly used in South Indian cuisine. Most vendors were selling processed spices packed in factories. We went from one store to the next hearing 'sorry we don't carry it'. At one location, the store owner felt sorry for us and gave us a free package of the now most commonly sold package in supermarkets. We had refused to buy this in the other shops, thinking we could get this anywhere. However, we didn't mind a free package!

We eventually spent the evening relaxing on a local beach. We caught the evening sunset from there. It was very pleasant.

On our walk back to our hotel we stopped at a local restaurant and had our dinner and then turned in for the night.

Alappuzha was the main reason we were drawn to Kerala. Although we had heard and read about the natural beauty; the coconut trees, the beaches and the ocean, the rivers and streams, we were especially excited to see the backwaters of Kerala.

The backwaters of Kerala is a network of rivers and streams inland, away from the coastal line. It swivels and snakes it way through rural areas of Kerala, where local residents travel by small canoe like boats or other floating devices as a means for transportation. Local communities residing on the shores of these waters even have their own agricultural practises, mainly growing rice paddies and locals also fish in these waters.

Many tourists come to Alappuzha, also known as Alleppy, to take a quiet relaxing boat ride, either on a Venician style gondola or a family size house boat. The vessels cruise around the lakes or on the rivers at a slow pace making for a very peaceful environment.

It truly proved to be the place to go to get away from a high strung and very stressful city life. Its also a paradise for the romancers.

We too spent an afternoon cruising around on a boat and soaked in the natural sights of this beautiful region. It was a true retreat. People even spend the night on some of the houseboats. They serve as hotels. They come fully equipped with electricity as well and are furnished including large screen tvs.

Maneesh and I did not spend the night in Alleppy. We spent the day and then went onwards to the next city of Khozikhode where we caught our flight back to Delhi.

Due to the downward turn of Maneesh's health, we had growing concerns of getting him home and checked out by doctors and a medical system that we were familiar with. We had decided the three week adventure we had of south India fulfilled our curiosity and we were ready to head home in spite of the health concerns. Whatever we were unable to touch we felt would make for another neat travel adventure in the future. We were also getting a little tired. Naturally Maneesh was already feeling weak and even I had started feeling under the weather and feverish by this point.

Long travels of being on the go constantly, carrying backpacks is a tiring activity. As mush as we enjoyed what we got to see and experience we were happy to be heading home for now.

We were only able to get a big coach to take us to Khozikode which was about three hours away There was no train service and the taxis would have cost us too much. Since we were determined to head out the same day, we thought to book a coach (like a Greyhound bus back home in Canada).

We had heard positive feedback about this mode of transport and were recommended to try it. We booked our tickets at a travel agent in the town and then boarded our bus at about 10:45 pm. It looked great when t arrived. We gave our backpacks to the bus driver who stored them in great big luggage compartments under the bus. However once we hopped on the bus, I immediately wished to get back off.

The bus was about 90% full and Maneesh and I were not able to get seats together. I was seated next to a women who was covered head to toe in a shawl. I could barely see her eyes. The whole bus was extremely dark as all the curtains were drawn on the windows and all the lights were out. The tv was on and a Tamil movie was blaring loudly. There were no subtitles and we couldn't understand a word. It made for a very uncomfortable environment. Pitch black, extremely loud and among strangers. The woman next to me tried to speak to me but was speaking in Tamil. When I asked if she could speak Hindi or English she looked at me like I had the plague. That was the end of her friendliness and she passed out.

In addition to this uncomfortable environment, the air conditioner was on extremely high. The bus was like a pitch black freezer. To make matters worse, when the us driver hit the highway his driving was crazy. The bus was swaying from side to side as if it could tip over any time. He was extremely fast around curves and at times it felt the bus was out of control. I couldn't relax and forget about trying to sleep.

I was feeling so afraid in this environment that I sat perfectly still. I didn't want to disturb the lady next to me so I didn't even turn around to look for Maneesh. About 45 minutes into the trip the bus stopped, and I couldn't take it anymore. I mustered up the courage to find Maneesh in the back somewhere. When I spotted him, I saw the seat next to him was empty. He saw me looking for me him and he waved to me. At that moment I got up, taking all my stuff with me and basically ran down the aisle to him, like a lost child finding his mom. I was so relieved to plop down next to him. At this point I didn't care if this seat was reserved for another passenger, I just wanted to sit with my husband on this bus from hell.

We had had a very long day and were feeling tired. It was very difficult to sleep however eventually our sleepiness became too strong for us to control and it took over. Once I had dosed I felt like I was in a nightmare. My body was still very aware of the environment and there was no where we could have gotten off the bus even if we wanted to. At this hour this was the only method of transport to Khozikhode. We endured the bus ride and were extremely happy to jump off at 3:30am when we reached our destination. Since this bus ride happened over night and the actual bus itself was cold and pitch black, the crazy driving really made it feel like we were in a nightmare.

We were able to find a auto rickshaw who helped us find a hotel. About an hour later we were laying in bed, safe and sound, fast asleep. We were now in Khozikhode.

Kanyakumari is the southern most tip of India, and this is the location where the Bay of Bengal in the east, the Indian ocean in the south and the Arabian sea in the west meet. The three bodies of water can be distinguished by their colours. The Bay of Bengal is quite blue/green while the Indian ocean appears very grey. There is also a particular location on one of the beaches from where one can see the sun set and the sun rise from the same spot.

Maneesh and I rented a car from Trivandrum to Kanyakumari and took the two hour drive to this intriguing place. The drive between the cities was very scenic. The state of Kerala is beautifully outlined with many tall coconut trees with intervals of open fields harvesting various crops. From time to time there were even small hills that add a backdrop to the scenes.

We got a very good feel of the country side of Kerala and eventually Tamil Nadu as Kanyakumari is located on the border of Kerala and Tamil Nadu. There were many coconut vendors along the highway and we had plenty of fresh coconut water! The fresh and sweet coconut water was probably one of my favourite parts of the whole trip :)

Eventually we reached Kanyakumari and found a parking spot. Unfortunately the first impression was of a very dirty city with a terrible stench. Essentially from just skimming the lay of the land, Kanyakumari was a small beach town. It wasn't a very well maintained tourist destination and was rather a little disappointing. That first negative impression stayed with us for the next few hours as we did a little tour of the city. We were anxious to leave as soon as possible.

We decided to just visit one big main point in this city and head back to Trivandrum. We chose to visit a little island built as a memorial to the famous Indian philosopher and monk, Swamy Vivekananda. The island was just a few kilometres from the main land and there was a small ferry that took visitors across the ocean. On the island was also a little temple dedicated to the goddess Kanyakumari (after whom the city is named). The goddess Kanyakumari is believed to be an incarnation of the goddess Parvati (wife of lord Shiv) and its believed this goddess stood on one foot and did a penance ,for which she is known for, on a particular rock on this island. There is even a small footprint left behind on the rock she stood on. Swamy Vivekananda came to this city on account of this particular spot and is also known to have sat in deep meditation performing his own personal penance. He was an Indian monk known for being a vehicle for bringing yoga and other ancient Indian philosophy to the West in the 20th century. He was known and well respected for his own spiritual practices and beliefs. He was a great literary personality to whom this memorial is dedicated to.

There was another temple also dedicated to goddess Kanyakumari on the main shores of the city, which is a major pilgrim site ( for women in particular). Due to a huge line up waiting to get into the temple, we decided to pass on going inside. From the outside we could see the architecting was not very different from the previous temples we had visited, and could guess it was built in a similar era by similar dynasties who had built the other ancient temples in the south of India. We snapped a picture from outside and headed for our car.

Kanyakumari is also believed to be a historically old city that was used for trade and commerce with the Roman empire. There are artifacts that have been found linking this city to Alexandria, the centre of the Roman empire at the time.

It really was disappointing that this little unique gem, known for its breathtaking natural beauty was not better maintained. It has so many natural unique factors as well as an interesting social history, that had it been better taken care of, Kanyakumari has the potential of being a great beach resort town attracting many more tourists. Unfortunately for us, the dirtiness of the city really made it difficult for us to have any desire to hang around.

Trivandrum is the capital city of Kerala. We had heard it was also a beautiful place to see and it was quite cosmopolitan. Kerala is an education hub with many well known universities and institutions and is also developing into an IT hub.

Once we reached the guest house we had arranged accommodations in, unfortunately Maneesh's fever returned. For the next two days again we took rest in our guest house and only ventured out for meals, medication or visits to the doctor.

By the fourth day Maneesh was finally feeling well and we felt we could continue our planned travels. However at this point we were seriously considering returning back to Delhi on account of Maneesh's health. We were on the extreme south end of India and very far from home. Getting back home wasn't so easy. The flights were extremely expensive and also a days worth of travelling (hopping from one airport to another transitioning between flights to get home, or the train rides were exceedingly long - three days and three nights possibly). Neither seemed appealing at that time given the health situation. It would still have been taxing had we decided to take on the journey home at that time. So we thought to rest and slowly travel towards a city that made it a bit easier to get home from.

Originally we had planned to hop between destinations and to take planes, trains or automobiles from one location to another. The plan was not only a way we would get to touch the destinations on our itinerary but it was also a way to cut the long journey back. Getting off in various cities and looking around for a day or two would give us a break in the journey all the way back up north.

Trivandrum was a nice place overall. We rented a car one afternoon and cruised around the city. Most big buildings are in the typical British architecture left behind by the colonials, that is currently used as the local government buildings.

One evening we spent wandering around on Kovalam beach, a well known beach and resort in Trivandrum. We watched the sun set and enjoyed the cool breeze.

There is one historical temple located in Trivandrum believed to be in existence since 500 years before Christ. Its known as the golden temple and is the wealthiest Hindu temple in the world. The temple is dedicated to the god Vishnu and is a highly visited place by pilgrims and tourists alike.

The temple's architecting was not very different from all the previous temples we had seen in the south and have realized most of the temples were renovated by the same dynasties from the 6th century onward. The architecting is also in typical Dravidian style. Dravidian people were the indigenous and ethnic people of south India before the population became infiltrated with colonial rulers. Presently most south Indian languages are derived from the main Dravidian languages of the ancient times. Most historical temples reflect the characteristics of Dravidian culture, therefore from state to state and location to location, we eventually got a very good sense of the ancient Indian temples.

Most were characterized by very tall rectangular towers marking the entrances to the temple. Some were painted colourfully and some were plain white in colour.

From Tirvandrum we headed to the most southern point of India to a city called Kanyakumari.

Cooimbatore

While Chennai is on the east coast of India off the shores of the Bay of Bengal, we took an over night train to the western region of the country close to the shores of the Arabian sea.

India has an incredible array of geography, natural characteristics and quickly shifting cultural dynamics from one region to the next, adding to the much talked about diversity of India and intensifying our experience.

From Chennai our train brought us to the city of Cooimbatore. Cooimbatore is an industrial city, known for its great weather. The main industry here is also weaving, however cotton weaving this time.

Cooimbatore has the largest railway station in this area and acts as a pivot point for many travellers headed to various destinations in this region. Similarly we were headed to the hill station of Ooty and landed in Cooimbatore to make this transition.

At the intersection where the states of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Kerala meet, lays a small chain of mountains known as the Nilgiri Hills. Covered with eucalyptus trees, tea and coffee plantations, this group of hills form a part of the larger Indian mountain chain known as the Western Ghats. Its believe the Nilgiri name is derived from the widespread blue Strobilanthes flower that may be the source of the blue hue over the mountains.

Our destination Ooty was a hill station, like previously visited Darjeeling, settled and developed by the British during their colonial rule over India. The mountain peaks of these hills provided a refuge from the blazing Indian summers and most government officials and their families moved into the mountains for the duration of the summer months.

It is now a tourist hot spot in India and is well known for its natural beauty and climate.

After we got off the train we inquired about the local bus station. Maneesh and I thought it might be a neat experience to try the local transport system and maybe even save a little money by not hiring our personal taxi. To our dismay when we got to the bus station there was a mile long line up of people waiting to get on one of the very few buses travelling to Ooty that day. We sucked it up and got in line, thinking we might as well endure this line up for the sake of a local experience. There was one bus at the docking station and somehow Maneesh scored us a couple seats. However the bus looked like a monster. It had no doors, the window panes and metal seat frames were rusty, it was overflowing with people and the seats Maneesh scored us were at the back of the bus. Thats the worst place to sit on a local bus, especially if you often experience motion sickness (like me). Also Ooty was still another 3 hour ride by car, and would have been longer by a bus making frequent stops.

In spite of this Maneesh was keen on hopping on! The bus was leaving shortly and we had no idea when the next one would be coming. Unfortunately I couldn't bring myself to get on, regardless of how authentic the travel experience would have been. From previous travel experience in India, I had learned this was not a good option and to pass if possible. I convinced Maneesh to wait for the next bus. Reluctantly he agreed.

We continued waiting. It was a hot day and we were really getting bored. We must have spent about three hours at the local bus terminal before we gave in and let a local taxi driver heckle us into renting his cab. We eventually gave in and settled into the cab for a three hour ride to the mountains of Ooty.

Since we had an over night train from Chennai to Cooimbatore that morning, and a hectic morning at the bus station, we went out like light bulbs once we were in our cab. We must have slept half the way to Ooty.

Half way through our trip I woke up to a magnificent sight. Still a bit groggy though, on one side of the road I caught a glimpse of the beautiful valleys. Many of them produced tea or coffee. On the other side as the road wound up the mountain, there was lush green vegetation covering the area. It was quite refreshing and provided a rather tropical feel. It was difficult to go back to sleep once I saw all this.

Unfortunately when we got to Ooty, Maneesh fell ill with a very high fever. For two days we stayed in our hotel while he rested and recovered. On the third day he started to feel a little better and we were able to travel out of Ooty to our next destination.

We had booked the Nilgiri Mountain Railway train, which is now a UNESCO world heritage sight. It's one of the very few railways that still operates steam locomotives. We experienced a very similar train ride in Darjeeling.

Before boarding our train, we had the morning to have a look around the small town of Ooty. Unfortunately we weren't able to venture out into some the wildlife parks or valleys around Ooty due to Maneesh falling ill, however we got a very good gland of all this on our train ride and a short guided tour of Ooty. Ooty had a few botanical parks, a main shopping drag, and some great views. We caught lunch at a very well known place in town and were also able to grab a few local souvenirs. Ooty is known for local production of sandalwood incense, tea and homemade Ooty chocolates. Since there is an abundance of eucalyptus trees in the area, high quality eucalyptus oil is also available. Once done with this mini tour, we headed for the train station. The descend of the railway took us through tea harvesting valleys, lush vegetation, forests of Eucalyptus trees and we caught sight of some beautiful waterfalls and wild birds.

The train ride down the mountain eventually lead us back to Cooimbatore where we caught our next over night train to the city of Trivandrum in Kerala. One more state to the west.

Mahabalipuram was our one stop before Chennai, and a quaint little beach town 60 kilometers south of Chennai.

Historically the Mahabalipuram area is known for its stone carvings. The various groups of stone carvings depict different techniques and methods used in the stone carvings, as well as a progression in the methods of stone carvings.

The first type of stone carvings are illustrated in very old cave temples. Dating back to approximately the 6th century, wherever communities of people settled temples would be set up in caves. In this particular area cave temples often had reliefs carved on the walls and in the centre of the temple would be the heart of the temple where the deity or the spot of worship would be designated. The reliefs on the walls told stories and were very elaborate hand made art pieces. There is one relief that is outdoor and is probably one of the most popular sites in the small town. One point of carving reliefs was that typically reliefs were carved in random spots on random stone walls (and told some kind of story or were a mythological scenes).

The second type of stone carving is that of stone temples being carved out of single extra large pieces of granite stone. One site hosts five of these temples, which have been dedicated to characters out of the Mahabharat, an ancient Indian epic.

Finally, the masons and sculptors started to import stones from various quarries to build stone temples or sculptures, which not only illustrates the development of carving/sculpting techniques but also introduced the third type of stone temples to be found in Mahabalipuram.

Apart from seeing the reliefs, and the five granite temples mentioned above, we also visited a temple located on the shores of the town made of stones that were piled in formation to create the temple.

The Pallav dynasty ruled from the 6th to the 10th century and most of the very old stone structures presently in this town are from that era. The Pallav's are believed to have been the creative force behind all this stone work and the development of the methods.

Its believed the Mahabalipuram area served as a school for young sculptors to come and learn many centuries ago. Around the town are also unfinished sculptures and reliefs. Its believed they were perhaps testing grounds for the young learners of this craft

Many stone carvings are produced and exported out of Mahabalipuram to various destinations around India, which include large stone carvings specifically created for temples of various gods, goddesses and other religious/spiritual personalities.

In the 7th century the ruling Pallav dynast also used Mahabalipuram as a port city. Many trading boats docked here and ships went out to various destinations around South East Asia and Sri Lanka from here. There have been artifacts found on the shores of Mahabalipuram dated to the early Christian period and from the times of Marco Polo, suggesting trading relations of this region existing from the third and fourth centuries, or even older.

After visiting the stone temples and sculptures around the town we headed to the beach resort we had reservations for. We spent the rest of the day on the beach and this happened to be new years day! We had a fantastic time swimming in the Bay of Bengal.

Lastly, the next morning before we left Mahabalipuram, we visited a crocodile park. There were thousands of crocodiles, which made for a very interesting site.

We rented our own mini-bus cum taxi to take the early morning three hour drive from Madurai to Rameshwaram.

The city of Rameshwaram is located on a little island that is connected to the mainland vis the Pamban bridge and is about 50 km away from Sri Lanka. On our drive to the city we eventually met up with the coast line of the Bay of Bengal. The views f the ocean were magnificent and the sea breeze was quite refreshing.

Located in Rameshwaram is another ancient temple of India. Reconstructed in the 12th century the Ramanathswamy temple is one of the major religious sites visited in India. Dedicated to Lord Shiv, history tells this was the location Lord Ram first landed when he returned from Sri Lanka after rescuing goddess Sita and killing the Brahmin Ravan, her abductor. Lord Ram prayed to Lord Shiv here to have the sin of killing a Brahmin absolved.

Since then, devotees have been travelling to this destination as a religious pilgrimage.

The temple is a very large complex and is marked by very tall towers (known as Gopurams) and very long corridors. The longest corridor in an Indian temple is here at this temple. It is 400 feet in the east and west direction and 640 feet from north to south.

As a part of the rituals, devotees bathe in water of the 22 wells situated around the temple. There is various significance of each of the wells people bathe at. Since this was the tradition and we had travelled all this way, Maneesh and I also participated in bathing at the holy wells mainly for the sake of the experience. However before we entered the temple we first took a dip in the Bay of Bengal, which is also a aching ritual as per the customs and visit of the temple.

Unfortunately we were not allowed to take pictures inside the temple and while we were going from well to well bathing it didn't make sense to be caring expensive camera equipment.

We spent half the day at the temple and the rest of the day exploring the rest of the island. There were a couple other spots where lord Ram had been believed to visited and were tourist destinations on the island. We finally ended up in a little town known as Dhanuskhodi that sits right on the beach shores of the Bay of Bengal. This little town was washed away in the 1964 cyclone that his this region.

Dhanushkodi is also believed to be a historical place associated with Lord Ram, and is believed to be the location from where he built a floating bridge connecting India with Sri Lanka. There are a few huge stones on display in the town which are believed to have been the kind of stones that were used so many centuries ago. They were floating on the water. The bridge was eventually destroyed also by Lord Ram in the story of his battle in Lanka.

It was a beautiful little town where we enjoyed fresh coconut water!

Dhanushkodi

As we made our way to the ancient city of Madurai, we entered the state of Tamil Nadu. Madurai was settled two millennia ago and is one of the world's oldest cities to have been continuously inhabited. We took an over night train from Mysore to Madurai and arrived early in the morning.

We had reservations for accommodations already and hired a taxi to head to our resting place. To our surprise it was very difficult speaking to the local people. Although we knew little Hindi is spoken in the southern states, like our previous destinations, we were expecting to get by on English alone. However, the local service providers, i.e. taxi drivers, shop keepers, restaurant staff, hotel staff, etc. hardly spoke English. On the ground level and areas tourists would visit, the staff of these locations could not communicate in English very well. It was very challenging. Most people only spoke Tamil, which we could hardly understand one word of. We had heard that in spite of lack of Hindi in these places, English had been adopted as the second main language. However after our struggles, it seemed maybe English was widely spoken by the educated class and not the general working class (who came into primary interaction with visitors).

My first impression of Madurai wasn't the greatest. It wasn't a beautiful city nor was it very clean. It was a very large city, and much more populated than Bangalore and Mysore. It was also warmer.

We had one main destination to visit in Madurai and that was the temple Meenakshi Amma ( literally meaning Mother Meenakshi, referring to the goddess Parvati, wife of Lord Shiv). This is one of the few very large temples devoted to a goddess. The temple is believed to be in existence since the 7th century. However due to destruction by Muslim invaders, the temple was rebuilt by the former Nayak dynasty in the mid 17th century influencing its current architecture. It is one of India's oldest and very popular temples.

The temple was very crowded and there was a long line to get inside. Once inside there was a long line to view the stone deity at the centre of the temple for which majority of the people were here to see. Many devotees and religious folks came to offer prayers, or were on a religious pilgrimage. For Maneesh and I the main interest was to see this very old Indian structure. We had read and learned much about India's magnificent historical structures and were fascinated to actually see this kind of history.

In spite of the age of the temple, it was very well maintained. It was mainly made of stone walls and floors. The temple was an extremely large compound, like a maze. We had to go bear foot inside as per the custom. We spent 2-3 hours inside the temple making our way through.

I like to describe the spiritual belief system of India as a giant web. It has many many intertwining threads. Visiting some of the ancient temples not only provided deeper learning of aspects of Indian history and the social/cultural thread, but also provided greater insights into Indian mythology. Although I wasn't there on a religious pilgrimage, many other visitors at the temples were on a pilgrimage (like it was a mission). There was a dress code observed by many and most were barefoot (sign of humility). People travelled from far and wide to fulfil their sense of religious duty or to bring some kind of offering to the deity presiding at the temple. The temples were built in historical destinations that coincided with some event associated with the deity the temple is dedicated to. It was fascinating to see the conviction people set out with to fulfil the rituals, which are believed to either lead to a heightened sense of enlightenment, washing/clearing of sins or to have prayers answered by performing the pilgrimage. The pilgrimage is also a form of austerity for some, to fortify a religious or spiritual discipline.

Once we were finished at the temple, we went on a city tour of Madurai. We visited another palace (belonging to the Nayak dynasty), where we caught a light and sound show. Through the use of lights and narration, the palace was set up like a stage, and the audience was told a story of the place. In addition we visited a couple more old temples (with similar history and construction as the Meenakshi Amma temple).

There were also a couple of other temples we visited. They had a similar structure to the Amman Meenakshi temple and were also colourfully painted. one of the temples was sculpted out of a cave in the 8th century. Similar the Murugan Temple we visited used cave sculpting techniques and had colorful tower. The exact age of the temple is unknown, but most likely its from 6th century or later, according to the architectural influences.

One of our best and favourite South Indian meals was had in Madurai at a restaurant called Sabrees. We had the typical South Indian cuisine of dosas, idly, uthpams and discovered something called pongal here. It became our new favourite dish. Pongal is basically rice and lentils boiled together like a pudding and had the South Indian flavouring. It was a dish similar to a popular North Indian dish known as 'kichidhi'. It was very flavourful.

We next headed to Mysore by train. It took us two hours from Bangalore to Mysore.

Mysore was a very touristy place compared to Bangalore, however it was a very clean city. It also wasn't as large of a city.

So we did what most tourists do when in Mysore, we spent a couple days sight seeing. We had a tour of the famous Mysore palace which belonged to the last king of Mysore before the British took over. We also visited the local zoo, a couple of historical temples and the famous Brindavan gardens. We also decided to visit the local wax and sand museum Although the wax museum was nothing to write home about, the sand museum was somewhat a little more interesting. A local artist had built large structures (often either historical scenes or personalities from popular culture) needless to say out of sand.

Another popular sight many people visit is the Chamundi hills. There is a temple at the top of the hills dedicated to a goddess (known as Chamundi) whom the local people worshipped during the reign of the former king, including the royal family. We also made the trip up the hill, however we were a little late reaching the temple and the capacity to visit the temple on the hill was full by the time we reached. So we just made a big circle and drove back down the other side of the hill. However, we got to see some neat views of the city on our journey down.

Bangalore and Mysore are cities located in the southern state of Karnataka, where the official language is Kannada. We found most people spoke English and were able to get by with that alone. It was interesting to see the cultural shift, especially marked by the language requirement. While in the north of India Hindi is widely spoken, the southern states don't speak Hindi much (in spite of it being the official language of India).

One morning for breakfast we had a very simple dish of Plain Dosa and Idli at a very popular tiny little restaurant called Mylari. It could hardly seat 20 people at a time. However it had come highly recommended by friends, so we went looking for it. It was incredibly busy and only opened for a few hours in the morning. The restaurant only served two items for breakfast; Dosa and Idli and that too the simple and plain versions, nothing fancy. It was one of the most delicious preparations I had eaten. It definitely made our authentic check list.

Unlike the very cosmopolitan vibe Bangalore boasted, Mysore was a traditional historical Indian city. It was quieter and other than the touristy places, seemed to have a laid back, tranquil feel.